578,508 Rooms in 4,775 Hotel Projects Under
Contract in U.S.A.

STR's February 2017 Pipeline Report shows
578,508 rooms in 4,775 hotel projects Under Contract in the United
States.

The total represents a 16.3% increase in the number of
rooms Under Contract when compared with February 2016.

In the In Construction stage, the U.S. reported
194,455 rooms in 1,481 projects. Based on the number of rooms,
that is a 29.3% increase in year-on-year comparisons.

“Hotel development activity continues to ramp
up, and we’re now just 8% below the all-time construction peak
reached in 2007,” said Bobby Bowers, STR’s senior VP for
operations. “As expected, all of the new supply entering the
market is affecting occupancy levels and hotelier pricing power.”

Among the Chain Scale segments, Upper Midscale
(63,274 rooms in 618 hotels) accounted for the most rooms In
Construction followed by Upscale (62,083 rooms in 463 hotels).

“Construction in the limited-service segment
hasn’t cooled off, with more than 125,000 rooms being built
between Upper Midscale and Upscale,” Bowers said. “Not only does
that figure represent roughly two-thirds of all U.S. hotel
construction, it also is a 24% increase from last February.”

Despite representing the lowest number of rooms
in the pipeline, the Economy segment reported the largest
percentage increase for rooms Under Contract (+122.9% to 11,013
rooms).

The Upper Upscale segment reported the largest
percentage increase for rooms In Construction (+91.3% to 27,457
rooms).

Under Contract data includes projects in the In
Construction, Final Planning and Planning stages, but does not
include projects in the Unconfirmed stage.